YSU women hold off Stony Brook

March 17, 2016 at 12:10a.m.

Benjamin’s late spurt

helps YSU

hold off

Stony Brook

By Steve WILAJ

YOUNGSTOWN

Indiya Benjamin was nowhere to be found for the first 35 minutes of Youngstown State’s matchup with Stony Brook on Wednesday in the Women’s Basketball Invitational’s opening round.

Finally, with just about five minutes remaining, the Penguins sophomore point guard hit a 3-pointer for her first points of the game — and it did more than give YSU a two-point lead.

“Sometimes you need that 3 to get going,” Benjamin said. “Obviously I wasn’t shooting as much today or knocking down any shots. So that 3 just boosted my energy and boosted my confidence and it was on from there.”

It sure was, as Benjamin scored all 10 of her points in the final quarter to guide YSU to a 67-60 victory at Beeghly Center. Her all-important 3 started a 10-0 Penguins run that jumped YSU from a one-point deficit to a nine-point advantage.

The second-seeded Penguins (20-12) advance to the Elite Eight of the WBI and next host either Maryland-Baltimore County or Fairfield on Saturday at 2 p.m.

“I kind of felt for the first three quarters, I let my team down,” said Benjamin, who averages 10 points and five assists. “I wasn’t really doing too much attacking or getting others involved. So I just went out there and gave it all I got.”

Sophomore forward Sarah Cash paced YSU with 17 points, Jackson added 16 and junior Kelsea Newman scored 14.

The Penguins and Stony Brook (17-15) were tied at 42 after three quarters, before the Seawolves took a one-point lead midway through the fourth. But that’s when YSU started its 10-0 run.

After Benjamin’s 3, Newman connected on a 3 of her own, while Benjamin capped the spurt with a layup and a floater. The run ended at the 2:04 mark with YSU owning a 62-53 lead.

“I thought we came out strong and executed really well in the first quarter,” YSU coach John Barnes said. “We just weren’t making any shots. Then in the second quarter, our defense just kind of lapsed. ... I thought there was a little bit of rust, but for the most part, we battled hard and played hard.”

The contest was YSU’s first since being eliminated from the Horizon League Tournament on Friday. The Penguins led just 8-6 after the first quarter and took a 27-25 lead into the break.

By knocking off Stony Brook, YSU downed one of its women’s program’s best all-time players, Caroline McCombs.

Now the Seawolves head coach, McCombs played for two of YSU’s NCAA Tournament teams in the mid 1990s. She’s also in the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame and is in YSU’s top 10 in career points, assists, steals and 3’s.

“For one, there’s so many great memories,” said McCombs, who had her former YSU coach, Ed DiGregorio, address Stony Brook prior to the game. “I’m trying to build my program and teach my players the things that I learned from [Coach D] and my opportunities of coaching up to this point.”

The contest drew a strong official attendance of 1,287. YSU will find out who it plays tonight, as No. 3 UMBC hosts No. 6 Fairfield at 7 p.m.

“The community has always been really good to the women’s basketball team and we’ve had great crowds all year,” Barnes said. “They were loud tonight and into it. Hopefully they know we’re to the elite eight of this tournament on Saturday and it should be another tough game — fun game — and entertaining.”